We know that the whole
creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the
creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit,
groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our
bodies.

-
Romans 8:22-23

God
continues to surprise me. All
the Holy Spirit has to do is blow through, and I am back
to square one; the sand castles that I have built are swept away by
the tide, and I am left without fortifications before God. I
suppose it could be frustrating to realize that most of the things I
had been worrying about for months do not really matter. But all I
feel is joy.
I see with stunning clarity that
God is not like me at all. Though I am characterized by grasping
and self-centeredness, God's character is one of self-giving, healing
and mercy. God's presence is power to receive forgiveness, and to be
remade in the image of Christ.

This
presence and power was very much in evidence this past week at the
sixth annual gathering of QuakerSpring
in Barnesville, Ohio. QuakerSpring
is a unique, Spirit-led retreat that was conceived as an alternative
to the frantic programming of some other Quaker gatherings. Rather
than planning the schedule ahead of time, each day's agenda is set
out according to the group's sense of the Spirit's leading.
Rooted in deep worship and shared discernment, QuakerSpring unfolds
according to the community's sense of God's call.

I was surprised by the spiritual
intensity we experienced this year. There was a palpable sense of
connection to God, but also an awareness of spiritual darkness. At
the heart of our time together was a deep sense of our human
brokeness, and of Christ's presence within, calling us to deeper
faithfulness. Our spiritual burdens felt like a heavy weight, but
as we sat together in Christ's presence, much of this darkness was
revealed, brought into the light, and purified in the Refiner's Fire.
Both individually and as a group, we experienced real
transformation.

During QuakerSpring, I personally
became more aware of the burdens I had been carrying. I saw more
clearly that I was struggling with a spirit of anxiety and confusion
around issues of financial security and support. I was so caught
up in worry about the future that I had lost sight of my present
Ground and Source, Jesus Christ.

Fortunately, an elder was able to
name what was happening. She expressed her sense that the
Adversary was loose in our midst. When she said this, I knew
immediately that it was true. I perceived the spirit of confusion and
anxiety for what it was - a spirit that was not from God - and I felt
an immediate release. In what felt like a miraculous moment of
spiritual house-cleaning, the darkness, confusion and anxiety cleared
out of me. I give praise to God for using this elder to name what
was happening, and to reveal the dynamics at play that were keeping
me in bondage.

One thing that struck me this week
was the prominence of what I would describe as almost "charismatic"
expressions of faith. The reality of darkness and evil emerged as
major themes of our worship and conversation. At the same time, there
was a deep sense of Christ's inward power that is breaking out of
forms and structures and transforming us in ways that we could never
have predicted. God is doing a new thing, though it is still unclear
what this new creation will look like.

As someone who has been involved in
QuakerSpring since the first gathering in 2007, this year felt like a
turning point. I have always valued QuakerSpring as a chance to
rest in the Spirit and grow in community. I saw QuakerSpring as a
vacation from the hard work of ministry in the wider world. This
year, however, I had a growing sense that God has a broader purpose
for this gathering. What if QuakerSpring is more than a spiritual
refuge? What if God is using QuakerSpring as an engine of renewal
and rebirth for the Religious Society of Friends?

Everything
in the Religious Society of Friends seems to be falling apart right
now. Yearly
Meetings are splitting, and old venerable institutions are in
decline. Many of our Meetings are in states of crisis, and there is a
general sense that we don't really know what to do. We
are at a loss for how to respond to our present circumstances. At QuakerSpring, I experience a community that is
grounded in the Spirit, listening and seeking to be obedient to the
voice of Jesus Christ within. This is the kind of community that I
want to be a part of. It is a kind of Quakerism that could truly be
relevant for 21st-century post-modern America.

QuakerSpring represents the unique
meeting of Christian (or Christian-curious) Liberal Friends and
Conservative Friends who seek a more vibrant and flexible Christian
faith. I learned in high school biology that hybrids are often
much stronger than "pure breeds." Could this new
community - this mutt of branch lineages united in the Spirit of
Christ - find a voice and a witness that speaks to the needs of
modern-day North America? How is God teaching us to contextualize
the truth that early Friends re-discovered in our own - dramatically
different - context? How
might we move forward with our Guide?

There are no easy answers. While many
of us wish there were some sort of "technical" solution for
the challenges facing the Religious Society of Friends today, I am
convinced that there is no quick fix that will produce faithfulness
and awareness of God's presence and power. Rather than developing
a technique or a process, God is gathering a people.

QuakerSpring
is not an abstract model or process that can simply be exported. This
is not something that we can manage or control.
Rather, QuakerSpring is a
people who are being knitted together in God's love and
power. Based on my experience of QuakerSpring, I am more
convinced than ever that rebirth within the Church will not be the
result of our human plans and
strategies. There is a new creation that we can sense, and Christ
himself is creating it.

Have you experienced the Spirit
drawing a new community together? What does it feel like on the
growing edge of a faith tradition? Where is the intersection between
what God is doing in each of us individually, and the ways that God
is at work in the Body as a whole? How do we give this new creation
space to breathe and develop, avoiding the temptation to suffocate it
with our own ideas and agendas?

Sing and
rejoice ye children of the day and the light; for the Lord is at work
in this thick night of darkness that may be felt: and the Truth doth
flourish as the rose, and lilies do grow among the thorns and the
plants atop the hills, and upon them the lambs doth skip and play.
-
George Fox

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

For it is the God who said, "Let
light shine out of darkness," who has shone in our hearts to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of
Jesus Christ. - 2 Corinthians 4:6

Quakers like to party. And when I
say "party," I mean sitting in silence for long periods of
time. When it comes to this kind of partying, there are few
groups who are bigger carousers than Conservative Friends. This
weekend in Barnesville, Ohio, we spent most of our time seated
together on the long, time-tested wooden benches of the ancient
Stillwater Meeting House. We quietly waited together, to see what God
had to say.

Believe it or not, this often
actually works. It seems that Jesus really meant it when he said that he would always be with us, present in our midst
through the Holy Spirit that he sends. In our experience as Friends,
when we gather together in his name, Jesus shows up. And let me tell
you, crazy things happen when Jesus is in the house.

This weekend was one of those precious
times of awareness not only of Jesus' sweet presence, but also of his
continued teaching among us. The comfort and joy of the Holy Spirit
laid a foundation for transformation, and over the course of the
weekend it became clear to many of us that God had a particular
lesson to teach us.

First, the Spirit reminded us that
Christ is in us. We together are the temple of the living God.
We bear within our bodies the presence and power of the Spirit. What
an amazing gift this is!

But blessings come with responsibility.
Christ does not live within us simply to make us feel good. The Holy
Spirit has not been poured out on us to boost our self-esteem, or
even to make us nicer people. God's presence inside us is not just
God's breath; it is also a refining fire.

Throughout the weekend, it felt clear
that God was pushing us to examine the implications of our amazing
calling in Christ Jesus. It felt like the Spirit was demanding of us:
If Christ is in you, what are you going to do about it? What
are the concrete, practical implications of the indwelling presence
of God? Of course, we wanted to dodge this very uncomfortable
question. Change is hard, and there is nothing that will shake up our
daily routine more quickly than really living into the transformative
power of Christ's presence. But God would not stop pressing the
question: Do I really live in
Christ's life and power? How does my life demonstrate it?

Many of us are carrying this query
back home with us. God is shining light in our hearts, revealing
all the ways that our lives are timid, lukewarm, comfortable
imitations of true discipleship. But Christ is within us,
and so there is hope! With divine assistance, we are called to lives of breath-taking faithfulness. As we turn to face the beauty of
his inward presence, our outward lives begin to reflect God's truth
and mercy, patient endurance and steadfast love.

What is your experience of Christ's
presence within? How has it changed the way that you live? Are there
ways in which you sense God calling you in challenging directions?
How have you experienced the Refiner's Fire?

Thursday, June 21, 2012

The US Census Bureau recently
released a report reveals that, since the beginning of the
financial crisis, a growing number of Americans are living with
roomates or relatives. The greater part of this increase has come
from adult children living with their parents. Millennials,
this is about you.

The fact that so many Millennial adults
are living with their parents partially hides the fact that our
generation has been plunged into a level of unemployment and poverty
with no parallel since the Great Depression. If poverty status were
determined by personal income, 45.3 percent of adults between the
ages of 18 and 34 would qualify as living in poverty.
Clearly, we are living in a different economic age than the one that
many of us were raised to expect.

So many of my generation know from
experience how terrible it feels to be scraping by on an absurdly low
income, unable to afford both student loan payments and groceries.
What is even more demoralizing is that many of us have virtually no
income, and millions are forced to rely on parents and relatives to
provide even the most basic needs while we work unpaid internships or
desperately search for work. No matter how you slice it, being broke
is awful.

But lack of money is not the worst
of it. The truth is, most people my age are coming to terms with
our economic diminishment. We know that we will probably never be as
materially prosperous as our parents were, but we know that this is
not necessarily a tragedy. We are acutely aware of the environmental,
social and health impacts of the consumerist binge of the late 20th
century, and many of us do not feel deprived to not be able to
participate. On the contrary, thrift is increasingly becoming a
virtue, and care for the earth is a very real consideration in our
spending choices. We are willing to pay more, and to live less
luxuriously, if it means that we can inhabit a healthier, more
sustainable world.

So, if many of us are content living
with less, what is the problem? One word: Jobs. I am confident that
my generation can thrive in a world where unrestrained luxury gives
way to global responsibility and sustainability. That is the world
that we want to live in. But being chronically jobless or
underemployed is not sustainable. The prolonged drought of
meaningful employment is tearing my generation down in slow motion.
It is crippling us professionally, emotionally and spiritually. And
we will bear the scars for decades to come.

In his new book, End
This Depression Now!, economistPaul
Krugman observes that, "People who want to work but can't
find work suffer greatly, not just from the loss of income but from a
diminished sense of self-worth." The youngest cohort of
adults today are not simply facing a loss of income, we are facing a
loss of meaning. Who are we? What is our purpose? What value do
we offer a society that tells us repeatedly and simultaneously: "We
don't need you," and "Why don't you grow up?"

There do not seem to be any easy
answers to the challenges that we are facing on the level of
economics and public policy. It may be many years before the job
market returns to what was once considered "normal." In the
meantime, however, we Millennials are going to have to make sense of
our lives, often in the absence of meaningful employment. What might
this look like? How can we shed the shame and feelings of personal
failure that come with un(der)employment and begin to look for ways
to empower ourselves, regardless of the economic outlook?

If anything is clear by now, it is that
older generations are not going to provide us with systems of
meaning. It might be tempting to go into a holding pattern, to cross
our fingers and hope that our economy and sense of core values will
eventually recover. But I do not think that is good strategy.
Instead, how might we focus our energies to create the just, healthy,
sustainable and meaningful society that we long for? The answer to
this question will undoubtably involve a lot of tough, entreprenurial
work - work that will go largely unsupported by the dying systems and
institutions that are clawing for survival right now. Birthing a new
society in the crumbling ruins of the old will not be easy.

But I believe we can do it. Time and
again, older generations have asked us, "when will you grow up?"
Now is the time to demonstrate that we are
grown - but that our adulthood does not conform to 20th century
assumptions. We can model a responsible, sustainable adulthood that
produces the fruits of justice: A society in which the poor are not
crushed, the earth is not ravished, and there is meaningful work for
everyone who is willing to contribute. The time has come to shake off
the shame that we have lived under for so long and to embrace the
power that is latent in our generation, if only we will choose to
exercise it.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Over the last nine months, I have
witnessed three phases of mainstream media coverage of the Occupy
movement. Phase one was a near-total blackout.
During Occupy Wall Street's
first two weeks, the silence of the major news outlets was deafening.
My social media networks were exploding with written and video
coverage from alternative media about the growing uprising in lower
Manhattan, but there was virtually no mention of the occupation by
the for-profit news chains. During the media blackout phase, the few
articles about Occupy Wall Street were either tiny blurbs that
downplayed the seriousness of the uprising, or mocking stories that
portrayed occupiers as silly idealists and spoiled brats.

At
about two weeks in, the media environment changed considerably. The
demonstrations in New York were beginning to spread to other cities,
and it was clear that this was a movement that even TV news could not
longer ignore. We launched Occupy
DC around this time. In those early days at McPherson Square, we
were swamped by reporters from around the world. Even then, the
foreign press was far more interested in covering Occupy than US
broadcasters were.

During
this phase of rather intense coverage by the major news outlets,
there was a consistent push to define the Occupy movement in terms of
the existing two-party, corporate state. Some insisted that we were
the Left's response to the Tea Party. Others claimed that we were the
heirs of the anti-globalization movement of the 1990s. Still others
insisted that we were really a radical wing of the Democrat Party,
working to advance Obama's tepid agenda on Capitol Hill. Each time,
we shook our heads: "No, it's not about that at all. We want to
live in a world that none of the existing parties or structures are
offering us. We seek a society where living communities are valued
more than corporate profit." But most journalists refused to
hear this. Perhaps they simply could not wrap their minds around a
movement that was more interested in fundamentally changing our
culture than in seizing political power. For whatever reason, most
reporters are still trying to fit us into their constricted political
landscape, into a narrow worldview that sees things primarily in
terms of Red and Blue, Left and Right.

Once
the Occupy encampments were either dispersed by police or stopped
being sexy, the mainstream media's posture shifted once again.
Perceiving that the end of the urban encampments was the death knell
of the movement, the corporate news outlets have entered into the
third phase of their narrative. They were unable to silence us by
ignoring us, and they ultimately failed to shoehorn us into their
narrow, two-party story. The corporate news outlets have now turned
to the only tactic left in their repetoire: They are trying to bury
us.

This
is the only way that the for-profit media can restore order. The
Occupy movement has challenged the binary political worldview that
forms the basis of their reporting. But if the corporate-sponsored
press can consign us to the past - declare us journalistically dead -
then they can begin to mold our legacy into a shape that reinforces
their assumptions. After all, if we are "dead," then they
no longer have to even bother interviewing us. Dead movements cannot
talk back.

This
is ultimately about control. Who controls the narrative? What is the
nature of the society we live in? Are there alternatives beyond the
two-party binary that increasingly delivers the same result? Are we
doomed to accept the evil of two lessers? If the corporate media has
its way, it will reinforce the fractured of our nation: a country
divided and conquered by corporate interests who would love nothing
more than to see us bicker about partisan politics while they buy up
both sides of the aisle.

Make
no mistake about it: This is not over. The mass demonstrations of
last fall were only the first phase in a new movement for economic
justice and grassroots democracy. If "the Occupy movement"
refers to the tactic of public encampments as a means of mass
protest, then yes, that movement has had its time. But if by "the
Occupy movement" you refer to a generation's cry against
injustice - if it represents our desire to live in a society where
the dignity and political voice of ordinary people is no longer
trampled by elite interests - then I can tell you that the Occupy
movement is alive and growing. If the Occupy tactic
has passed its expiration date, the Occupy ethos
is more relevant than ever.

How
can we allow our passion for economic justice and grassroots
democracy to infuse all areas of our lives? How can we transform our
existing institutions - our workplaces, faith communities, unions and
local governments - into structures that more fully embody the ideals
of transparency, accountability, compassion and mutual respect? What
would it look like to break out of the us versus them
mentality that has infested our national consciousness? How can we
walk forward, together?

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Yesterday morning, some friends and I
attended the sessions of the Senate Banking Committee. We did not
intend to get arrested; we just wanted to have a word with Jamie
Dimon, the man who leads the corporation that is trying to throw
our friend, Deborah
Harris, out of her home. When Deborah learned that Dimon, the CEO
of JP Morgan
Chase, was going to be in town to talk before the Senate Banking
Committee, she felt that she could not pass up the opportunity to
speak to the man who is responsible not only for the unjust
foreclosure of her home, but of the devastated lives of so many
families that relied on JP Morgan Chase's financial integrity.
Several of us from Occupy
Our Homes DC felt that we had a responsibility to accompany
Deborah, and to stand with her as she spoke truth to power.

The consequences for our actions were
swift. We delivered a message to those who sit in authority, and the
hand of Authority was upon us immediately. We expected to be warned
and asked to leave, but instead found ourselves roughly escorted out
of the chamber and handcuffed. We spent the next seven hours being
confined to small spaces - a police van, narrow benches, jail cells.
We were moved between different rooms incessantly - in my case, I was
probably transferred to a different location at least fifteen times.
I was literally chained to the wall for much of my stay.

I was surprised by how traumatizing the
experience was. Though I did not expect to be arrested, I assumed
that this kind of "political crime" would result in a brief
trip to jail and a quick release after paying a fine. Instead, we
were held for most of the day. My case was particularly stressful,
since the FBI computer mistakenly identified me as being a certain
Mr. Perez. I was repeatedly interrogated by my jailers as to my real
identity, threatened with prolonged incarceration and locked away for
long periods of time while I waited to see if they would confirm that
I was really me. It looked like I might face an extended stay in
jail.

With my wrists locked in steel and my
every movement controlled, my mind was drawn repeatedly to Paul's
writings about powers, principalities, authorities, thrones and
rulers. Without a doubt, I was in the power of the men and women of
the Capitol Police. They could do anything they wanted to me, and I
had no ability to resist. As someone who is accustomed to having some
measure of control over his own life, this was a difficult experience
for me. For most of the day yesterday, I was reduced to a number and
an object, and my very identity was called into question by multiple
interrogators. Added to this was a prolonged period of involuntary
fasting. I felt numb, empty and increasingly distant from life beyond
the jailhouse walls.

At about six hours in, the officers
finally decided that I was indeed who I said I was. At that point,
they started calling me "sir" and relating to me as a human
being, rather than an object to be moved, recorded and stored. They
also let me call my wife, which was a great encouragement. She told
me how proud she was of me, and that the media was really covering
our action at the Senate hearing. It was good to be reminded again
that this was not about me; it was about Deborah and others who are
being trampled by the super-rich and their machinary of insatiable
greed.

Finally, I was released. To my
amazement, it seemed like my jailers really wanted me to thank
them. One of them remarked, "we treated you very well." I
was too shell-shocked to respond, but I thought to myself, "I
would hate to see what you do when you decide not
to treat someone well." I did not have it in me to argue with
them at that point, but by no means was I going to assuage what I
interpreted as a nagging feeling of guilt on their part. Let them sit
with it.

As I
was leaving, several people called the station, asking about me and
calling for my release. The officer in charge spoke to the last
person saying, "could you please tell everyone that Micah has
been released? We have been getting calls every minute!" I felt
so grateful for the support that my friends showed - and to know that
the pressure would have only increased if they had held me longer or
transferred me to another facility.

But -
once again - this is not about me! I would not have chosen to be
arrested, but I hope that by telling the story of my ordeal I can
once again draw attention to the plight of so many families that are
being forced out of their homes by the Big
Banks. If you have not yet, please learn about Deborah
Harris' case, and consider how you might be able to take part in
the movement for justice. If this incident can help build greater
support around Deborah, I will be satisfied.

Finally,
I must give glory to God. The experience of being incarcerated was an
amazing opportunity to lean on Jesus. While other human beings had
absolute authority over my body, the only freedom that remained for
me was in my spirit. As I was chained to walls and locked in a cell,
my connection to God was the only thing that could cut through the
anxiety, claustrophobia and sense of helplessness that I was
experiencing. I know that the Lord will not present me with any
challenge that he does not also equip me spiritually to endure.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Faith and I arrived home in DC late
last Thursday after spending a little more than a week in Nebraska
and Kansas. During our trip, we attended Great
Plains Yearly Meeting and visited family and friends in Wichita.
GPYM was held this year in Central City, Nebraska - which was
surprising, since just a few years ago it seemed as if the Meeting in
Central City would cease to exist. Instead, Friends there seem to be
gaining in strength, and they enthusiastically hosted yearly meeting
sessions. I give thanks to God for the new life that the Spirit is
breathing into Friends in the Great Plains region!

Besides the rather miraculous
revitalization of Central City Friends Meeting, there were other
signs of growth. To begin with, the Yearly Meeting is beginning a
process of re-allocating funds towards local outreach. For decades,
the GPYM Home Missions Fund has been used as a source of funding for
distant Quaker organizations. Now, however, there is a movement
within GPYM to begin spending the Home Missions fund on... home
missions! After decades of mostly writing checks to Quaker
organizations on the East Coast, money may soon flow to local
projects that advance the gospel in Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma.

Another encouraging sign a proposal
brought by Laura Dungan of University Friends Meeting (Wichita,
Kansas). Laura would like to be financially released to work
half-time for the Yearly Meeting. She would provide leadership
development within the Yearly Meeting, especially encouraging Friends
to see the big picture of God's mission for Friends in the region.
Laura's work would seek to encourage local churches and leaders as
the Yearly Meeting works to develop a vision and a plan for the
future.

With all of these positive developments
emerging in my former Yearly Meeting, I feel sad that I am unable to
be of any direct assistance. With my commitment to ministry in the DC
area, there is not much I can do for Friends in GPYM except pray and
remain available for electronic correspondence. Yet, I dare to
imagine that perhaps my earlier
ministry had some positive impact on the Yearly Meeting. I
planted, and Laura Dungan is watering - but
it is God who gives the growth. To him be all glory, honor and
praise!

Growth and change are not limited to
Great Plains Yearly Meeting. This month has been a time of
professional transition for me. After three years working for Earlham
School of Religion coordinating communications and web strategy,
I am transitioning to a new job with Friends
United Meeting - a worldwide association of Friends congregations
in North America, the Caribbean, Central America, the Middle East and
Africa. Starting in July, I will serve as Interim Communications
and Web Specialist,overseeing FUM's web and
social media strategy. I am especially looking forward to exploring
ways to make FUM's electronic content more accessible to our brothers
and sisters in East Africa, who represent the majority of Quakers
worldwide.

FUM's central office is located in
Richmond, Indiana, but most of my work will be done remotely from DC.
This is critical, since Faith and I continue to feel God clearly
calling us to long-term residence in the capital. The ministry that
we are engaged in here continues to be blessed, though we are
learning that God's blessing is rarely the same as our own grandiose
visions. The ground is hard, and there is a lot of tilling to do
before we can hope for more obvious growth. Once again, I am reminded
that it is God who gives the growth. I am not in control.

At Capitol
Hill Friends, God has been teaching us what our collective
mission is to be. During worship several weeks ago, we felt an
especially powerful sense of the Holy Spirit's presence, and in the
midst of the Spirit's ministry to us, I received something that felt
like a mission statement for our community. My mind was drawn to
Jesus' parable
of the sower, and I was shown
that our city is full of "weeds" - the cares of the world
and the lure of wealth - that choke out the Seed, which is God's
presence in our lives. The Lord made clear to me that our role as a
radical community of disciples is to clear ground where the
seed of God can grow. Our job is
to prepare and hold a space of resistance and hope where individuals
can sink their roots deep into this good earth and become part of a
sustaining community in Jesus.

In
recent weeks I have had an increasingly urgent sense that the Body of
Christ is much bigger than our traditional ideas of what a
"congregation" looks like. I am realizing that the old
model of church does not necessarily work in our post-modern, urban
context. Regular gatherings for worship are necessary, of course, but
I am seeing that there are many other things that are equally crucial
if we are to strengthen the Body. For example, teaching everyday
spiritual practices that individuals can grow into, whether they "go
to church" or not. Community is a complicated thing in this
city, and the formal, weekly gatherings of the traditional
congregation are not necessarily the best thing to lead with. I am
becoming convinced at a heart level that I must meet others where
they are at. I must let nothing - not even the beautiful traditions
of the church - present a barrier to sharing the good news that we
have found in Jesus.

Please continue to pray for us! I
cannot repeat often enough how much your prayers matter, how much we
feel them as we seek to be faithful to God's call in our city. We
have experienced so many blessings that can only be the result of the
prayerful intercession of God's people. We give thanks for the
faithful presence of Lily Rockwell, of Stillwater Monthly Meeting
(Ohio Yearly Meeting), who has been an elder to us since last fall.
Her internship is ending in late July, at which time she will be
moving to New Mexico to pursue graduate studies. We are sad that she
must leave us, but we give thanks to God for all of the prayer and
love that she has invested in our community.

We also give praise for Sammy and
Ceress Sanders, missions students at Barclay
College who are summer interns at the William
Penn House. They are actively participants in Capitol Hill
Friends, and they have added greatly to our fellowship - not only
through their joyful presence and enthusiasm, but also through their
helpfulness in set-up and clean-up, and their excellent cooking
skills! With all the work that the Lord has given us to do and all
the helpers that he has provided, we are truly blessed.

It is my hope that you, too, are living
in awareness of Christ's presence in your lives. Thank you for your
faithfulness in prayer and encouragement.

Saturday, June 09, 2012

And
may not the Spirit of Christ speak in the female as well as the male?
Who is it that dare limit the Holy One of Israel? For the Light is
the same in the male and in the female, and it cometh from Christ. .
. . And who is it that dare stop Christ's mouth?-
George Fox, early Quaker evangelist

Something
that set early Quakers apart from many other Christians was their
witness to the spiritual equality of women. Mindful of the
scriptural admonition against quenching
the Spirit, all Friends - young and old, women and men - were
encouraged to preach the gospel as they were led. While the
established Church singled out a smattering
of passages
that seemed
to justify the subordination of women, Friends prayerfully
examined the entire testimony of the Old and New Testaments and found
that the Spirit was leading them to affirm the spiritual equality of
women and men.

As
one might imagine, the early Friends' insistence on the equal
ministry of women stirred up trouble. Indeed, many Quakers were
beaten, tortured and imprisioned; many more lost social standing or
had their property seized. If the ministry of women had been a
secondary concern, Friends might have understandably given way.
Better to compromise on a non-essential than to see your friends and
family attacked, even killed! So why were Quakers willing to suffer
terribly to uphold the ministry of women? The answer is simple: The
spiritual equality of women is not an "extra" that
Christians can take or leave - it is one of the essential marks of a
people who are being led by the Holy Spirit.

The
foundational discovery of the Quaker movement is that Jesus Christ is
literally present with us, and that he will change us from the inside
out. At a time when most Christians believed that human sin and
depravity were inescapable facts of life, Friends testified to their
own experience of being inwardly transformed. As the Holy Spirit
moved in their lives, these women and men found that their entire
nature was being changed. As they grew in faithfulness, they
experienced redepmtion from the fallen state of Adam, being re-formed
in the image of Christ.

The
Quaker experience is a profound reversal of the natural order. Where
death once reigned, we are now abundantly alive; where we had
previously been enslaved by hatred and selfishness, we find freedom.
Quakers recognize that this amazing transformation is the fulfillment
of God's intention for the creation. When we are in Christ,
everything
old passes away and there is a new creation. None of the old
rules of sin and death apply.

One
of the hallmarks of the old, fallen order is the subordination of
women to men. Though in many places
patriarchy is still the unquestioned status quo,
Quakers believe that this social arrangement is a result of
humanity's fall from grace. When human beings are living in the image
of Adam and Eve, man
rules over woman. Yet, in Christ we experience the first fruits
of the New Creation. Our lived experience of transformation by the
Holy Spirit is exactly what Paul described in
Romans: Though "death exercised dominion from Adam to
Moses," Christ has brought a new reign of life! Adam dragged
humanity into the reign of death where male domination was the norm. But
now Jesus
is empowering his friends to resist the death-dealing culture of
patriarchy.

It
is because we have tasted this new life that we know a new day is
dawning in Christ. As we are being transformed by the Holy Spirit,
darkness loses its grip on us. We are re-born into a life of
spiritual freedom that includes all of us. We find that we are living
in the days when the
Lord says:

In
the last days it will be, God declares,

that
I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,

and
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy...

Even
upon my slaves, both men and women,

in
those days I will pour out my Spirit;

and
they shall prophesy.

When
the Lord is present, human distinctions fade into the background. It
is not about us anymore.
Instead, all our focus is on Jesus.
When we are gathered in his power, we discover for ourselves that
"there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or
free, there is no longer male or female; for all of [us] are one in
Christ Jesus."

Have
you had this experience of Christ's transformative power? What are
ways you have seen the Holy Spirit break through human distinctions?
How can we participate in the abundant life and radical liberation
that the Spirit brings?

Wednesday, June 06, 2012

For it is not the hearers of the law
who are righteous in God's sight, but the doers of the law who will
be justified. When Gentiles, who do not posess the law, do
instinctively what the law requires, these, though not having the
law, are a law to themselves.
They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts... -
Romans 2:13-15

When
we are faithful, the Church has good news to share. But we are not
always so faithful. Often, the gospel is crowded out by human
ideologies. We proclaim a Liberal Jesus or Conservative Jesus, an
Evangelical Jesus or Social Justice Jesus. The Church has bought into
the false dichotomies of the "culture wars" hook, line and
sinker. Our worldviews are often rooted in forms of black-and-white,
us-versus-them thinking that has brought us to the brink of
self-annihilation.

When
we are captured in this way by our surrounding culture, we fail to
proclaim the radical truth about who God really is. In Jesus, we
encounter a God who is not like us. God is not a Republican or a
Democrat. Instead, in Jesus Christ we come face to face with a Being
whose love and justice transcend any of our normal catagories. In
him, it is always "yes." God is strong and gentle,
loving and just - blessing us with freedom and responsibility.

God is
equally real in the heart of the illegal immigrant and the wealthy
Anglo. The
Word of God is alive and active in the innermost parts of the gay
atheist and the straight Christian fundamentalist. The living witness
of God is present in the Occupy activist and the Tea Partier. The
Spirit blows where it will, and Jesus does not show partiality.

But
will we listen? Are we awake to the Spirit's promptings in our
hearts? Do we see Jesus in the poor and those that the wider culture
chooses to ignore? Are we ready to offer up our lives and reputations
for those who have the least? Do we recognize
the voice of our Shepherd when we hear it?

My
greatest joy and challenge is to see how God
is active among other "flocks" - groups of people
where I would not have expected to find God at work, guiding and
blessing. One of my surprise encounters with the God of the Margins
has been within the Occupy movement. Occupiers run the gamut of
beliefs, from committed Christians to dogmatic atheists, but many are
quasi-agnostic, "spiritual-but-not-religious" types. They
can sense that there is deep truth out there somewhere, but they
haven't determined yet what to call it, or how to relate to it. These
are people of deep moral conviction who have rejected the rote
religion of past generations and are seeking out the truth on their
own terms.

Since
they are involved in the Occupy movement, it is not surprising that
most of these folks find expression for their commitment to truth and
justice through social activism. They live out the light that they
have been shown through their struggles for grassroots democracy and
economic equality. Just like the Gentiles
who do instinctively what the law requires, many Occupy activists
act naturally out of their own interior sense of justice.

I want
to walk with whomever is listening and obeying the inward promptings
of God. Some of these people are Christians, and I praise God for
their witness. But God is speaking through many
who are outside the gates of the city, wandering in the
wilderness following
a pillar of cloud and fire whose name they do not know. I want to
follow this wild, uncontainable God with them, even if it costs me
security and my already tenuous sense of certainty. Will you walk
with us?

Therefore Jesus also suffered
outside the city gate in order to sanctify the people by his own
blood. Let us then go to him outside the camp and bear the abuse he
endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we are looking for the
city that is to come. - Hebrews
13:12-14

Monday, June 04, 2012

Very truly I tell you, unless a
kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a
single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves
their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this
world will keep it for eternal life. - John 12:24-25

Great
Plains Yearly Meeting has been thinking about
dying for a long time. Back in 2001, Great Plains - a fellowship of
Quakers in Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma - had dwindled to only five
local congregations, and Friends considered seriously whether GPYM's
time was up. Yet, for some reason - whether a nudge from the Spirit
or the lure of nostalgia (perhaps a bit of both) - Friends
re-committed themselves to existence as a Yearly Meeting.

Over the nine years that I have
attended GPYM, I have watched Friends wrestle with what continued
existence would mean. Is GPYM primarily a family reunion - an assembly
of "good people" who like one another? Does the Yearly
Meeting primarily exist as a connection with Quaker institutions on
the East Coast? Does GPYM have something unique to say to its own
context in the American heartland? Could the Yearly Meeting be a base
community for a shared life of radical discipleship and loving action
for liberation and justice in the Great Plains region?

During my time attending Great Plains,
it has seemed like the default mode for GPYM is to operate as a place
of comfort, security and self-affirmation. The Yearly Meeting
provides a sense of identity and connection with the wider Quaker
world, a touchstone in a region with few Friends of like mind. Often,
the posture of folks in Great Plains Yearly Meeting has been
fatalistic - resigned to the sleepy decline of our Christian
fellowship.

But we were not left without a witness.
Over time, I have seen God prodding Friends to choose a path of
renewed life and vitality as Christ's Church. God has raised up a
number of prophetic ministers who have called the Yearly Meeting to a
deeper engagement with our shared experience of Jesus Christ, and his
call to be salt and light in the world. These
prophets have not always been well-received, but their ministry has
had a clear effect over the long haul.

This year, the clerk of the Yearly
Meeting brought a proposal that she be financially released
(Quakerese for "hired") for part-time service to the Yearly
Meeting. She explained that she felt called to dedicate a substantial
portion of her time to nurturing Meetings throughout the region and
helping to spur the development of new leadership that could help to
sustain the work of the Yearly Meeting in the years ahead.

In 2009, after a season of traveling ministry among Friends in the Great Plains region, I had laid a
similar concern before Great Plains Yearly Meeting. At that time,
however, Friends were not ready to provide support for such an
out-of-the-box proposal. GPYM's Ministry and Counsel minuted,
"Our Yearly Meeting simply is not yet at a place where we can
corporately affirm an apostolic ministry" (M&C 09-17). Three
years later, however, the ground seems to have been cleared enough
that Friends are seriously considering supporting just such an
apostolic call.

Jesus teaches us that the way to
everlasting life is through apparent death, and that by
clinging to what we already have, we deny ourselves the riches that
are to come. Have we reached a place where we
are ready to die to our comfort and nostalgia - to bury that which
once was so that we can reap that which God is bringing into being?
What does it look like for the Church to die to itself, and to be
raised again, clothed in Jesus Christ? Are we willing to let go of
the dirty rags that we cling to in order to put on the fine linen of
Christ's wedding banquet? Can we embrace the self-death that leads to
overflowing life in the Spirit?

So will it be with the
resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is
raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory;
it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural
body, it is raised a spiritual body. ... -
1 Corinthians 15:42-44